


Something to Live For

by sniperct



Series: Frozen Realities [3]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Tomb Raider (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Behavior, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Darker elements, F/F, Hospitals, Lara Has PTSD, Major Character Injury, Meet-Cute, Mentions of Violence, Supernatural Elements, jaffa cakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23484439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sniperct/pseuds/sniperct
Summary: Lara didn't intend to fall in love with her new friend's sister. But like a lot of things in Lara's life, what she intended and what actually happens are two entirely different things. Hopefully their growing relationship survives Lara's time away on her expedition to Yamatai...
Relationships: Lara Croft/Elsa (Disney), Samantha Nishimura/Anna (Disney)
Series: Frozen Realities [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1689559
Comments: 28
Kudos: 72





	1. Before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not the first Lara/Elsa I'd intended to write, but the other one is taking a lot longer and so I asked for prompts from discord and mix and matched them

Lara had known Anna all of two weeks and yet found it incredibly difficult to not go along with just about anything the woman wanted. She was a lot like her best friend Sam, in that. ‘Going along with it’ was how she ended up at the _farmer’s_ market, of all places. 

Like Sam, Anna seemed determined to expand Lara’s horizons beyond books and homework. Between the two of them Lara might actually end up not being a shut in.

But to Lara, dinner was typically something that came out of a can, the microwave or a ramen pot. _Technically_ , she was incredibly wealthy, but her fortune was in a trust by her own choosing and thus out of reach for the foreseeable future.

So, ramen. Lots, and lots of ramen. And Jaffa Cakes for a treat.

Studying some of the stalls, Lara thought that maybe she could get some fresh veggies for a treat too. Sam would appreciate that.

“Oh, oh! I almost forgot!” Anna grabbed her arm. “We’re meeting my sister for coffee. She’s been studying at the Bartlett School of Architecture and like she’s half the reason I’m in London.” Anna made a little huffing sound, her grip strong on Lara’s arm, “At least _she_ would never leave me _stranded_ at the _airport_ unlike _certain_ ex-girlfriends.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to strangle Hanna?” Lara asked, raising one of her eyebrows as she punched her fist into her palm. “I toss blokes three times my size out of the pub on the regular and every time you talk about her I like her less and less.”

“As mind-blowingly hot as that would be, I can _totally_ handle myself,” Anna assured her as she started to drag Lara past the stalls of fruits and vegetables. Lara was about to stop Anna so she could buy some apples when she spotted a blonde woman approaching them.

The woman’s hair reminded Lara of a passage she’d read once; hair gleaming like spun gold. It was pulled back into a French braid, and she wore a light blue sundress with bare shoulders. Like Anna, there was a smattering of freckles on her shoulders, cheeks and across a nose above ruby lips. But it was her eyes, pale as ice, that drew Lara in.

“Elsa!” Anna called out, waving her hand. “You’re early!”

And then Lara found herself standing in front of the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.

She felt like a mess in comparison, dressed as she was in jeans, muddy boots and a t-shirt that read _Take me Bach to the good old days_ on the back with the composer’s face on the front. It made her feel silly and she kind of wished she’d worn her Metallica shirt instead.

“Hello, Anna,” Elsa said. Unlike her sister, she still had a hint of an accent that Lara placed as scandenavian and her analytical mind quickly settled on Norway as the most likely country of origin. She’d need to hear more to narrow it down any further than that but somehow that didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice to make, really.

“Elsa, this is Lara, my friend I told you about.” Anna gestured at Lara, then at Elsa, “And Lara, this is my big sis, Elsa.”

“So this is the archaeology nerd you’ve been hanging out with?” Elsa asked with a smile, lifting her eyebrow in a way that was absolutely _fascinating_ to Lara.

“Archaeology nerd?” Lara asked, glancing at Anna. She wasn’t upset, because it was true. Just like Sam was a camera nerd and … “And you’re not, Anna? We _share classes_.”

“We’re both archaeology nerds,” Anna amended cheerfully.

“I’m nothing like her,” Elsa said, eyes twinkling.

“I don’t think I could handle two of you. Anna and Sam together in the same room is punishment enough. It’s nice to meet you.” Lara held her hand out to Elsa, who looked at it a moment before taking it. 

Anna looked at their hands, then squinted at Elsa for a moment before she danced around to her sister’s left side and locked arms with her. “I can’t wait to introduce you to Sam.”

“She talks about her even more than you,” Elsa observed, automatically letting Anna loop her arm through hers before she offered her own to Lara with just the slightest flush on her face.

‘ _Did_ she now?’ Lara filed that info away for later, before she took Elsa’s arm. “I believe I was promised coffee and Jaffa Cakes?”

“I never promised you cakes,” Anna retorted.

“Yes, you did.”

Elsa smiled, and attempted to defuse the situation. “I’ll buy you some, don’t worry.”

“Careful, sis. Buying Lara Jaffa Cakes will make her fall in love with you.”

Another thing that Anna was probably not wrong about, but Lara kept her mouth shut before she put her foot in it. Elsa was making it hard to think and she’d just met her.

And the most concerning thing was that Lara was pretty sure Anna had noticed.

❄️

Elsa didn’t typically like people getting close to her but as she got to know Lara over the next few weeks she found herself making an exception. Maybe it was because Lara was like her and they could sit in silence together without it feeling awkward. Elsa might be scribbling some notes on her next project while Lara was neck deep in some book. Or vice versa, with more and more frequent touches between them. Lara had quickly become Elsa’s favorite footrest.

So maybe there were other reasons that Elsa was only really beginning to make sense of. She’d spent several of her formative years in near isolation and she still sometimes had trouble peopleing.

Tonight Elsa was trying to enjoy that closeness without thinking too much about it as they sat on the balcony of Lara’s little flat that she shared with Sam. Lara had a book open in her lap that she was drawing in, and Elsa scooted a little closer to watch. Almost subconsciously, she leaned against the brunette, their hips and shoulders touching in ways that sent the most pleasant sparks through her.

Clipped to the left side of Lara’s book were several pictures. They were of scrolls and paintings and all of them appeared to have Japanese lettering. Elsa knew that Lara’s specific field of study this year was Japan and she watched Lara write down the letters and then scribble notes next to or below them.

“What is that?” Elsa asked, leaning her head on Lara’s shoulder. The characters were so pretty but they didn’t look like the usual Japanese she saw when she was watching Lara work. 

Lara stiffened for a moment, before her cheek pressed into the top of Elsa’s head. “It’s an ancient form of the Japanese language from when they were using Chinese characters. I’m translating them into modern Japanese.”

“I know four languages,” Elsa said, her eyes starting to pick out the differences between the Chinese characters and the Japanese. She wondered if there was any drift or evolution between the ancient Chinese letters and the modern language. She had no idea what any of it _meant_ but she thought she’d like to learn. “Maybe I should add a fifth.”

“I’d be happy to tutor you.” Lara squeezed Elsa’s knee, an action that momentarily short circuited any ideas about learning new languages that didn’t start with Lara’s lips and end at her toes.

Feeling a little out of breath, Elsa asked. “How many languages do you know?”

“Mmm.” Lara tapped her pen against the side of her journal, “I’m fluent in Japanese, Spanish, Greek and Farsi. I’ve been working on my Mandarin but I wouldn’t call it fluent. I haven’t touched German since boarding school. But there are a number of dead languages I can read.” Smiling, Lara turned her head into Elsa’s hair and inhaled deeply. “At least one of those isn’t as dead as most people think, it’s just that it’s being forgotten with each passing generation. _Usually_ because of outside influence.”

That made Elsa feel sad. “My maternal grandmother was from the Sámi people in Norway and my mother spent her childhood there. I never got the chance to learn before she died. And I … don’t know why I never _thought_ about it before.”

Lara lifted her head, peering at Elsa curiously. “Luckily, that language is recognized in several countries in an effort to save it. There’s still a chance to learn.”

“Would you like to learn it with me and Anna?” Elsa gazed into Lara’s eyes, wondering how Lara just _knew_ these kind of things. It was like she was some kind of knowledge sponge that Elsa _reallyreally_ liked that about her, nearly as much as she liked it when Lara info-dumped on her. Elsa had to berate her brain for _going_ places. []

“Yes!” Lara grinned at her, “We can start once I finish this project.” 

The only reason Elsa was able to look away was because Lara did. “So what is it you’re doing this for?”

“It’s something Sam and I are working on together. I’m pretty sure that if Sam ever had the chance to talk to you about it you’d know,” Lara said, pointing her pen at one of the pictures. It was of a scroll depicting a woman, arms outstretched over an island. “Because once she gets started on this you won’t be able to stop her.”

Elsa laughed. “I made the mistake of asking her about a camera once and ended up with a lesson in lighting techniques and apertures.”

Lara smiled fondly, and Elsa felt something like jealousy. It was a feeling she didn’t particularly like. Lara and Sam were close, but she could never figure out how close they were and for the first time she realized she wanted them to be friend-close and not lovers-close. But she wanted the latter for herself.

Was that selfish?

“Sam claims to be descended from an ancient Queen. Her name was Himiko and she lived on a lost island in the Dragon Sea called Yamatai. There’s enough evidence to show that she and the island both existed, but no one has ever found the island. There’s also a lot of supernatural rumors and stories surrounding them both. Himiko is described as a goddess, the Sun Queen, able to control the weather. It was this power that led her to being able to control an empire.”

When Lara got really into something, her entire face lit up and grew animated, and this was no exception. Elsa _loved_ it when that happened and took any opportunity to get Lara going on a subject of interest. “But she just disappeared one day? A whole empire?”

“That does happen on occasion. A civilization disappearing from history. That’s part of the mystery!”

“I didn’t know you were a poet,” Elsa teased, her focus more on lines of Lara’s jaw than anything else.

“I’m a woman of _many_ talents.”

“So what’s your project?” Elsa asked, needing her mouth to do _something_ just then.

Lara’s eyes burned with ambition, “ _I_ am going to find Yamatai!”

❄️

It was nice to have a friend. And maybe Elsa was something more than a friend, the way they danced around each other, growing ever closer to _something_ , a something that was refreshingly new to Lara. And just a little scary.

Maybe it was that she felt Elsa’s absence like a piece of herself was missing, even if she’d only gone to her own home last night. Lara sighed, taking a bite from a Jaffa Cake as she pored over her notes for the upteenth time. She was certain she had everything she needed, and it was just a matter of finalizing the dates for her expedition. Lara was looking forward to it, but she had to set aside her growing feelings because being away from Elsa for that long would be harder than she’d anticipated.

Maybe she should do what Sam had suggested just the other day and ask Elsa out on a date before they left? Or maybe not. Lara had climbed Kilimanjaro last summer with Roth and Sam and yet the idea of a _date_ felt like it was a more difficult summit to climb.

But then, Sam got dates _super_ easily and, judging from the noise the previous night, she’d come home with someone yet again. Lara was less one to judge and more one to have preferred a better night’s sleep. Still, if Sam was happy, she was happy. And maybe Sam _did_ have a point about Lara being a shut-in.

Before she could think better of it, she reached for her phone and sent a text to Elsa. As she did so, a pair of pale legs sticking out of a sweatshirt with the Canon logo emblazoned on it walked past. Thinking it was Sam, she looked up to tease her about her late night _activities_ only for no sound to come out when she recognized _Anna_.

“Hey!” Anna grinned at her, bouncing into the tiny kitchen.

“What?” Lara asked, mind trying to catch up with what she was seeing.

“Coffee’s up in the cupboard,” Sam said, emerging from her room wearing what was clearly _Anna’s_ sweatshirt, judging from the sandwich on it. She leaned over and kissed Lara on the top of the head, “Morning, sweetie. Sorry if we were too loud last night.”

“No louder than you usually are,” Lara said, keeping her voice low. This felt… different. Anna and Sam were both her friends and then there was Elsa to think about too. Lara’s stomach clenched at the idea of her growing friendship circle suddenly exploding over relationship drama.

Sam had always been able to practically read her mind, “I know what you’re thinking, but this is… I _really_ like her. I’m going to try to not actually fuck up this time.”

“How did I not notice this?” Lara asked. “How long?”

“Like two weeks. Between this,” Sam tapped Lara’s notes, “and Elsa, you’ve been like, super distracted, sweetie. And--” Her eyes widened and she snatched the phone from Lara’s hand. “Oh my god! Babe! Lara asked Elsa out on a date!”

She was out of Lara’s reach and thus saved from being throttled as she danced into the kitchen. Lara sighed heavily. “You’re both very lucky I love you.”

“Not as much as you love Elsa,” Anna chirped in a sing-song tone, grabbing the phone from Sam. Her eyes lit up and she waggled it in Lara’s direction. “She said yes!!”

Anna started to tap something out on the phone while Sam wrapped her arms around her and watched her over her shoulder. Lara scrambled out of her chair, notes flying everywhere, “Wait, what the fuck are you two doing?!”

“Setting up the date, duh.” Sam winked at her, “It’s gotta be fancy. You should see Lara all dressed up.”

“Are we sure? Put a slinky dress on Elsa and we’ll probably kill Lara.”

Giggling, Anna darted out of the kitchen as Lara entered it, then squealed when Lara leapt over the counter and nearly tackled her. She rolled over the couch then passed the phone to Sam when she ran past.

That wouldn’t really do either of them much good; Lara was faster and had more stamina. Sam had often called her the Terminator and she quickly caught up to her, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her up over her shoulder.

“Hey!” Sam punched her in the kidney, “You could at least carry me like the princess I am.”

“Just because you’re descended from some ancient Sun Queen doesn’t make you a princess,” Lara retorted, dumping Sam on the couch and finally rescuing her phone.

“It totally does,” Anna protested. She took a charging jump at Lara, only for Lara to catch her one handed, flip her over her shoulders and drop her onto Sam.

With both of her friends winded and herself barely breaking a sweat, Lara looked at her phone to see what kind of damage had been done.

There was a location. A time. And a rare emoji from Elsa. A heart.

Lara’s heart thudded in her chest and she whispered, “I… I guess I have a date.”

❄️

It wasn’t the end of the world, or anything. It was just that Lara had never actually gone on a date. But before she’d known Sam and Anna, she’d never gone clubbing, she’d never had friends who hadn't been dead for a thousand years and she’d never been happier in her life.

So precisely at eight, she met Elsa at a small restaurant. Elsa was already there, fidgeting, wearing a gown that clung to her hips and left most of her back exposed. Her hair hung loosely down to the small of her back and Lara forgot how to breathe when she turned around.

Apparently, Elsa couldn’t breathe either, which meant the black slacks and dress jacket Lara was wearing had worked their intended magic on Elsa. Slowly, Lara held her hand out to Elsa, “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Elsa replied breathily.

For reasons she couldn’t explain, the only thing Lara could think of just then was the old Welsh courtship tradition of loverspoons.

She walked Elsa inside, heart pounding in her chest like she was somehow about to leap over the edge of a cliff and into the sea. But Lara ignored that, pulling the chair out for Elsa and then seating herself. 

“I can’t say I’ve ever eaten here,” Elsa said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Me neither, so let's make the best of it,” Lara replied, promising herself that she wasn’t going to look at the prices and she’d just have to take up an extra shift at the bar. It would, naturally, be easier to treat a date if she’d had access to her fortune, but like with her schooling it felt like cheating. Lara hated the idea of being one of those prissy rich brats even more than she dreaded being accused of not earning her own way. She was going to make her mark under her own name and not that of her father.

“Should we get some wine?” Elsa asked. She picked up the wine menu and looked over it. “ _I’d_ like a glass, at least.”

Lara just nodded, not trusting her voice. She knew she could handle a glass and frankly she thought she could use one right now. Lara hadn’t been this nervous since her last tests.

Elsa smiled and signaled the waiter to bring them both a glass of whatever wine he recommended while Lara kept herself busy choosing what to actually eat. Once all the necessities of the meal had been settled, though, that left her with a beautiful woman sitting across from her and then the question became what to talk about.

“...It’s easier when we’re just hanging out, isn’t it?” Elsa asked, as if she could read the expression on Lara’s face.

“And here I thought only Sam had a telepathic link into my brain.” Never one to shy away from something, Lara reached over and put her hand over Elsa’s. “So why don’t we just talk about what we usually talk about?”

“That could be anything,” Elsa laughed. “But I’ve been meaning to ask, when do you leave on your expedition?”

“ _Endurance_ sails in two weeks,” Lara replied. She didn’t consider contracting the man who’d helped raise her as cheating. Roth would be paid fair and square from the money she’d gotten from sponsors. “I probably won’t be back for two months, all told.”

“I figured.” Elsa turned her hand over, squeezing Lara’s hand. “I’m really going to miss you.”

“You _could_ come with,” Lara suggested. She wondered why she brought that up, why she’d suggested that. Elsa had her own projects to pursue and it was way too short notice for her to be able to cancel her plans. 

But she really liked the idea of having her there with her and Sam. Anna too. It might be a pipe dream, but it was a nice one.

“I really want to,” Elsa looked down at their joined hands, “but I already made plans for this summer with Anna. I’m sorry.”

“No, I knew, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“I’m glad you did,” Elsa grinned at her. “It means a lot to me that you thought about me.”

“Next time,” Lara promised. “You can come on the next one. Both of you. I could use your expertise on building construction.”

It wasn’t even that big of a stretch and she could see the gears turning in Elsa’s head at the idea.

Through the rest of the meal they chatted, as Elsa had suggested, about the things they usually talked about. Music, their work, the way Anna and Sam had somehow snuck up on the both of them as being a thing. They shared an interest in learning and math and the way Elsa’s face brightened as she talked about something that interested her never ceased to amaze Lara. She learned more about fractals while she was eating than she thought possible.

After Lara had paid, she led Elsa to her car, going so far as to hold the door open for her. Elsa didn’t seem to mind; if anything she seemed flustered. Trying not to think too much about it, Lara came around to the other side, but when she got into the car, Elsa was looking at her phone and frowning. “Uhm. So Anna just warned me that she has Sam over at our flat. For the night.”

The implications were clear and Lara immediately came up with a plan, “We can go back to my flat then. I’m sure there’s a movie we could put on. I didn’t really want the night to end yet, anyway...”

Elsa slipped her phone back into her purse and smiled devilishly. “We _could_ watch Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Lara recoiled in disgust. “ _Please_ tell me you’re joking.”

“What do you have against Indiana Jones?”

“That’s not how archaeology fucking works!” Lara shook her head and smacked the wheel with her palm. “It’s hard work with long hours in the dirt being very very careful with the things you find and doesn’t actually involve explosions and being _shot_ at! And that’s not even getting into the traps and don’t get me _started_ on how the second movie depicted Hinduism. Kali is actually a goddess of change and empower--”

Lara cut herself off, noticing the way that Elsa was beaming at her. “...Sam told you I hate those movies, didn’t she?”

“You’re adorable. But I do really want to hear the rest of this rant.” Elsa put her hand on Lara’s arm and kept it there the rest of the drive _and_ the rant.

She’d mostly finished by the time they’d made it into the flat. Elsa removed her heels and set them aside while Lara kicked her boots off somewhat less gracefully. They stood awkwardly in the hallway for several heartbeats before Lara threw caution to the wind and slid her arm around Elsa, pressing her hand into the small of her back as she brought her in closer.

“You know leaving us alone was their plan, right?” Elsa asked, mouth so close Lara could taste it. “They’re probably speculating about what we’re going to do.”

“Probably…” Part of Lara was inclined to give them something to talk about.

Elsa kissed her, lightly at first, until Lara pulled her closer, returning the kiss with growing fervor. Lara’s head spun, and she had to lean against the wall with Elsa still in her arms before she fell over.

“Can we skip the movie?” Elsa asked, staring at Lara with deep, dark eyes.

Lara answered by picking Elsa up and carrying her into her bedroom, like a proper princess. She gently laid her onto the bed, kneeling over her as she leaned down to kiss her again. Two whole months without her would feel like an eternity, even if Lara knew she’d be incredibly busy the whole time.

Was she really trying to rationalize making love to this woman? She _wanted_ it, wanted _her_ , and Elsa’s fingers worked at the buttons of Lara’s shirt as she groaned into her mouth.

“This is going to be a _very_ good summer,” Lara murmured. 

“Your expedition?” Elsa asked, fingers stilling as she looked up at Lara in confusion.

“I meant _you_.” Lara laughed, though she would be the first to admit the expedition would make the summer good too, “I want to make love to you.”

“Oh good, I thought we were getting ready to play naked Jenga or something.”

Elsa started giggling and Lara kissed her quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've had the before Yamatai.
> 
> The next chapter will be the _after_.


	2. After

“I’m sure they’re okay,” Anna said, pulling her legs up onto the couch and wrapping her arms around them. She’d pretty much been wearing Sam’s Canon shirt since Elsa had gotten the call about _Endurance_ going missing. There were nearly a dozen people on that ship, including Sam and Lara, and Elsa had met several of them when she’d gone to see Lara off. It hadn’t exactly been how Lara had intended her to meet Conrad Roth, the man who’d basically raised her, but Elsa had somehow managed to get him to smile which was apparently a big deal.

Even now, Elsa still couldn’t believe that Lara had put her down as her emergency contact.

Thinking about that was less stressful than thinking about the ship being missing. From what Elsa had been told, storms in the area were making it difficult for searchers to find them. Elsa had remembered that Lara had called the area the Dragon Sea, and she’d learned it had a reputation not unlike the Bermuda Triangle.

That had _not_ been a comforting wikipedia entry. 

She sat down next to Anna and pulled her head down so she could stroke her hair. “It’s only been two days. Lara is probably too busy making discoveries to notice anyone is looking for them.”

Anna laughed, snuggling in against Elsa. “And Sam is documenting the whole thing to put together a sciencey youtube channel for them.” 

Her throat bobbed and she tilted her head to look up at Elsa. “I don’t know when it happened, but I think I’m in love with her. Is it too soon? I’m just so worried about her. About both of them. Lara was one of the first friends I made outside of you.”

“Sam was one of the first friends I made outside of you.” Elsa allowed herself to think about Lara, a knife going through her heart. “All I know is I’ve been missing Lara more and more every day, and her safety means the world to me.”

“ _I_ think that’s love,” Anna murmured.

“I’m afraid to say it out loud.” Elsa’s phone buzzed and she pulled it out. Her face paled and the world seemed to spin out from beneath her feet even though she was sitting.

“Elsa? What’s wrong?”

“They... one of the search planes went down. They’re reassessing the search.”

“They can’t call it off! It’s too soon!” Anna sat bolt upright.

“They’re not calling it off, Anna. They’re just… ” Elsa’s stomach continued to drop and she gripped the phone too tightly as she looked into her sister’s eyes and saw her own fear and anxiety mirrored there. It was enough to push her to action. 

“Pack a bag.” She got up, bringing up Expedia. “We’re flying to Japan.”

There was one flight left and it would be a small miracle if they made it in time. But Elsa pulled the trigger and then packed a bag too, before she dragged Anna out of the flat. She must have disobeyed a number of traffic laws on the way to the airport, and probably broke a law of physics to get there in time.

Even with remembering to pack a tablet she hadn’t really counted on how much _thinking_ she’d have to do on a twelve hour flight. With music playing in her ears and a book she couldn’t focus on enough to read on the tablet, her mind kept asking her what they were doing and why they were doing it. It wasn’t like they could charter a flight or a boat and go searching for _Endurance_ themselves… could they? Elsa could tell Anna was already plotting some kind of search, playing with a map she’d printed out and drawing the last known course of Roth’s ship.

If a genuine search plane had gone down then Elsa wasn’t sure what chance the two of them might have, but at least they were _trying_.

“Maybe they’ve already been rescued,” Anna said hopefully, sinking back in her seat and staring at Elsa with bleary eyes.

“Then they’ll be taken to Tokyo and we can be there to meet them,” Elsa replied. “Now get some sleep. We’re barely halfway there.”

Elsa wished that time wouldn’t move so slowly. The last six hours felt like an eternity, even while dozing off and on for the remainder of the flight. And when they landed it felt kind of surreal to disembark and find herself in another country. In the airport alone there were so many people it was almost _crushing_ her.

Anna grabbed her hand, which helped her center herself. “I’m thinking we can start with the British Embassy. _Endurance_ was registered in England and they’ll probably be keyed into what's going on.”

Elsa nodded, pulling out her phone so that she could look up the address of the embassy. She’d only had a few Japanese lessons with Lara and Sam so her knowledge was pretty basic but it would be enough to get them a taxi and a ride to the Embassy but after that… after that…

“We’ll figure out what to do next,” Anna said, squeezing her hand. “One step at a time, okay?”

“Yes, of course.” Elsa allowed herself to be led out of the airport and away from the overwhelming number of people. She knew the city would be just as crowded but as long as they were in the safety of a cab it wouldn’t bother her too much. 

Her phone rang almost as soon as she got inside. She listened to the person on the other end and then thanked them before hanging up. In halting, broken Japanese she asked the driver to take them to the hospital. She hoped she got the name right.

Anna looked at her fearfully. “They found them?”

“A ship picked them up on a little boat,” Elsa said, rubbing her thumb up and down her palm. “Lara collapsed not long before they docked and was airlifted. They didn’t have too many details beyond that.”

“How many of them did they find?”

Elsa squeezed her sister’s hand. “Four including Lara. Sam, Jonah and Reyes.”

Anna squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. It was a relief that Lara and Sam were okay, but there’d been so many people on that ship when it sailed out, and only _four_ had been found.

Knowing it would be impossible to relax until she saw Lara and Sam again, Elsa instead wrapped her arms around Anna and pulled her in close. Comforting brought her comfort and there’d been many times when Anna had done the same for her. She stroked Anna’s hair as she stared out the window, watching the unfamiliar city pass by.

The hospital loomed up sooner than she’d expected. Overpaying the driver, she pulled Anna and their backpacks out and together they rushed inside. Elsa despised hospitals; too many bad memories from her lost years. But for Lara she’d force herself to deal with it.

The first thing Elsa saw was Sam sitting in a chair. There were bruises and cuts on her face and her hair was a complete mess, but she was wearing clean clothing. Anna started to launch herself at Sam, only to come up short, as if afraid of hurting her.

That didn’t stop Sam, who wrapped her arms around Anna and squeezed her tightly. “Anna baby, what are you doing here!?”

“We kind of planned to start searching ourselves,” Anna joked, voice muffled by Sam’s chest.

Sam laughed, then winced. “Okay, laughing still hurts.”

“I’m glad to see you’re okay.” Elsa approached her, swallowing her nerves. Sam simply reached over and pulled her into a hug.

“Reyes took the first flight she could to get to her daughter,” Sam explained after several moments of hugging. “Jonah went to get us something to eat. We can’t see Lara just yet.”

“What happened?” Elsa tried to quiet the voice in her head.

“Septic shock, mostly, but she has a _lot_ of injuries, some really bad ones.” Sam let go of them and ran her fingers through her hair. “God, where do I even start?”

Anna pulled them both over to some seats. “Try with the beginning.”

Sam looked between them as she sat down. “I’ll let Lara fill in a lot of the details but… okay, like, literally nothing I’m going to say makes any sense at all and I won’t blame you if you think we’ve lost our minds.”

Elsa tightened her grip on Anna’s arm, not sure what Sam was getting and wondering if she really wanted to know. “So what happened?”

“We got caught in a storm off the coast of Yamatai and the ship kind of snapped in half,” Sam said. Somehow, she sounded calmer than Elsa might have been under the circumstances. The idea of that big ship just getting split in half was almost mind boggling.

“We weren’t the first ones to get wrecked there though.” Sam’s lips thinned out, her skin pale. “Others had been trapped there for years. They’d formed this… this _cult_ that worshipped Himiko. They believed that if they just appeased her then she’d let up on the eternal storm surrounding the island and they’d be free.”

“Cult?” Anna asked.

Elsa shook her head. “ _Eternal storm_?”

“Yeah.” Sam smiled grimly. “The cult was… well it was bad. They thought I was some kind of … vessel for the Sun Queen’s soul and to prove it they tried to burn me at the stake. Lara was a bit… too slow.” 

Sam’s throat bobbed and she kept her tone light. “Anyway there was this gust of wind, I lived, Lara escaped, and I was taken to this temple. Lara showed up, murdered a bunch of the cultists and saved me. And then there was some other stuff after the cult kidnapped me again so Himiko could possess me and Lara… She ran herself ragged, Lara Croft the unstoppable Terminator. One woman army. I... I’m sorry, give me a minute.” 

She pulled one of her legs up and hugged it. Despite her light tone there was a haunted look in her eyes. Elsa squeezed her shoulder, even if she was burning with questions. “It’s okay. You can tell us more later.”

“Thanks.” Sam nodded, and sagged against Anna, lifting her hands to cup her face. “I was so scared I’d never see you again.”

It was almost too much to take in at once and Elsa was positive that wasn’t even the half of it. Eternal storms, possession… And she couldn’t imagine Lara killing anyone; at least, not until she thought about how much Sam _meant_ to Lara. They were closer even than Elsa and Anna were, and if Anna had been captured by some crazed cultists and her life threatened Elsa could see herself tearing down the sky to save her.

Quietly, she got to her feet to give Anna and Sam some space. Elsa had just decided to walk outside for a few minutes of fresh, non-hospital air when a nurse approached her. “Ms. Croft is awake, but she can only see one person at a time right now.”

Elsa glanced back at Sam and Anna. Sam motioned for her to go ahead, so Elsa nodded and turned back to the nurse. “I’ll go first then, thank you.”

She was led to a room on the third floor, and stepped inside.

Lara lay in a bed hooked up to IVs and several monitors. If Sam looked like she’d been in a schoolyard scuffle, Lara looked like she’d gone three rounds at the UFC. Her lovely eyes fluttered open, bloodshot and hazy, but they locked onto Elsa almost immediately. 

Elsa barely recognized the person she saw there. She remembered, once, a series of photographs Sam had shown her of people from before and after they’d been through a war. There was a hardness to Lara’s eyes, a sharp wariness not unlike a cornered and wounded animal.

But that didn’t stop Elsa. She walked into the room, sitting in a chair next to the bed and picking Lara’s hand up, lacing their fingers together. “Hey. So I hear you’re a hero.”

A few tears rolled down Lara’s cheek and she rasped, “Just a survivor.”

“Okay, a survivor.” Elsa lifted her hand and kissed one of Lara’s knuckles. “You survived. You made sure Sam and your friends survived too.”

“Not everyone.”

There was nothing Elsa could say to that, so she just nodded. “I’ll be here as long as I can. They’ll only let one of us in at a time for now.”

“Sam?”

“She’s with Anna right now.”

“Good.” Lara managed something close to a smile. “She kept talking about all the things she was going to tell Anna when she saw her again.”

“A little extra incentive?” Elsa teased.

“That would be you.” Lara closed her eyes for a few seconds before she opened them again. “I kept telling myself… Save Sam. Get home to Elsa…”

Elsa didn’t need to ask to know which of those took priority. She would have had the same if all their places had been swapped. That didn’t make it any easier to hear, but it did make it easier to understand.

“You did both, sweetheart. You made it.”

❄️

Lara couldn’t remember when she’d actually hit the wall and her body had started to give out. It hadn’t actually been on Yamatai; she’d barely slept those three days, fueled by a desperate drive to save Sam and get them home to their girls, and well as what meals she could hunt up. There had been times, even, where Lara had survived out of spite and a desire for revenge. At this point she no longer cared what had kept her going, only that she’d brought as many of them home as she could.

Four hundred and twenty three.

It was a miracle she’d lasted as long as she had with an infected stomach wound and god knows what else. Lara’s scars would be numerous, marking her body with the experience of Yamatai, and her mind would be equally affected. 

But it was just… one moment she was standing on the deck of their rescue ship, and the next she was inside a helicopter being airlifted to Tokyo. In and out, in and out, blackness and nightmare and then the world interjecting. Until finally Elsa stood in the doorway looking like she’d barely slept the past three days herself, and it was honestly the most beautiful thing Lara had ever seen.

She didn’t deserve her.

Four hundred and twenty three dead men between Lara and saving Sam and their friends. More than that if she counted the lost members of the _Endurance_ crew and the rescue plane Himiko had downed with a lightning strike.

She didn’t deserve any of them at all.

And to think she’d _asked_ Elsa to come with her. To go on this expedition. Imagining her on the island at the mercy of Father Mathias and his cult made Lara’s stomach turn.

Elsa moved her hand through Lara’s hair, stroking it lightly, and it brought her back to the here and now. “I don’t know what you went through. Sam only gave us the cliff’s notes version and some of it doesn’t make any sense. I’m not even going to pretend that I understand, but I’m also not going to be going anywhere.”

Where even to start? How could she tell anyone she’d nearly lost Sam to having her soul sucked out and replaced by that of a dessicated, insane corpse. 

She set that aside for now. There’d been _words_ Lara had wanted to say. She’d promised herself she’d say them if she’d made it. Words to Sam about just how much she meant to her. And words to Elsa about how deeply she’d wound her way into her heart.

The only thing that came out was barely audible to herself and yet echoed through her head like booming thunder, “I love you.”

Maybe not the fix to everything that happened, no, but something good to grab hold of so she could drag herself through the next day and weeks and months.

Elsa smiled down at her, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “I love you too. But you should rest.”

Lara worked her jaw, her throat bobbing. She didn’t want to know what Elsa might think when she found out just how low Lara had gone in order to survive. Elsa could just walk away and Lara wouldn’t blame her.

“You did what you had to do,” Elsa said, almost as if she was reading her mind.

“I don’t even know if I’m _ashamed_ of what I did,” Lara whispered.

“I’m not going to judge. All right?”

Lara hesitated, wanting to believe her. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Wore the punniest musical shirt I’ve ever seen,” Elsa told her.

“Did I ever show you my _Bee_ thoven shirt?”

“Not yet.”

Lara squeezed Elsa’s hand. “First thing first when we get home.”

“It’s really cute,” Sam said from the doorway. Lara’s eyes slid from her girlfriend to her best friend and she was suddenly hit with a wave of relief that was exhausting.

“Thought it was… one at a time.”

“Shh.” Sam said, pulling Anna in with her and closing the door. “We just went through hell I’m not gonna listen to stupid rules like that.”

Lara had spent too much time isolated and paranoid; she welcomed their company as long as it was just the three of them. 

Not knowing what would await her on the other side, she drifted off, surrounded by the people she’d fought so hard for, these people who were the only family she had left. Lara feared her dreams would be dark and deadly, but instead she dreamed of the farmer’s market and a smile on ruby lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was fun, and this second half went a bit darker than I originally intended!
> 
> Next time I write these two together should hopefully be a full-scale longfic, set after Shadows of the Tomb Raider, wherein Arendelle is a modern Kingdom still under the rule of King Agnarr. 
> 
> WIth a side-plot for Kristoff and Anna lifted right from those Hallmark romances...


End file.
